Grad school, and?
An introduction to your student union
Graduate Students’ Union (GSU)
University of Toronto
Local 19, Canadian Federation of Students
16 Bancroft Avenue,
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C1
416-978-2391
www.gsu.utoronto.ca
by Gina Trubiani, GSU Executive 2005-06
The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
THE
ACADEMIC
FRONTIER
A few tips!
Get the most out of your
relationship with your supervisor
• Meet regularly
• Prepare for your meetings
• Email him/her a brief summary of EVERY
meeting
• Show your advisor the results of your work
as soon as possible
• Communicate clearly
• Take the initiative
Making continual progress on your
research
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Keep a journal of your ideas
Keep a to do list
Continually update your:
Problem statement
Goals
Approach (or a list of possible approaches)
One-minute version of your research (aka the
elevator ride summary)
• Five-minute version of your research (aka
impressing the hot cashier at the local
Dominion)
Discuss your research with
anyone who will listen
• use your fellow students, friends, family,
etc. to practice discussing your research
on various levels.
• They may have useful insights or you may
find that verbalizing your ideas clarifies
them for yourself.
Avoid distractions
• it is easy to ignore your research in favor
of more structured tasks such as taking
classes, teaching classes, organizing
student activities, creating presentations
like this, etc. balance these kinds of
activities or commitments.
Confront your fears and
weaknesses
 If you are afraid of public speaking,
volunteer to give lots of talks.
• If you are afraid your ideas are stupid,
discuss them with someone.
• If you are afraid of writing, write something
about your research and have it reviewed
by a colleague you are comfortable with.
Other resources: Books
• Getting What You Came For by Robert L. Peters
This book contains a lot of helpful advice on getting the
most out of the MSc/PhD process. The sections on
writing and giving presentations are particularly helpful.
• The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming
Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play by Neil
Fiore
Since one of the biggest problems in finishing a PhD is
procrastination, this book should be helpful to those of
you who actually get around to reading it.
Procrastination
The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
The Next Frontier:
Life Beyond the
Lab/Library
Understand your University
• You dictate the services that you pay for
• Know who makes the decisions and how
they are made
e.g. funding packages
funded cohort
IP
Know your Department
• Use your Course Union
• Get involved
• Ask questions and voice concerns
Know your campus and available
services for students
e.g.
Check out countless clubs, use the athletic
facilities, eat in the Arbor Room, and see
spectacular shows at the theatre.
www.harthouse.utoronto.ca
Know your Graduate Students’
Union
Know where it is and go there!
GSU
• The Graduate Students' Union at
University of Toronto represents over
12,000 students studying in over 70
departments. For many years this union
has advocated for increased student
representation, funding, and provided
services such as health insurance,
confidential advice, and a voice for the
graduate student body on the various
committees of the University.
We are the Canadian Federation of
Students (CFS): Graduate
Students’ Union (GSU)
University of Toronto
local 19
http://www.cfs-fcee.ca
Canadian Federation of Students
(CFS)
• The Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) was formed
in 1981 to provide students with an effective and united
voice, provincially and nationally.
• Today, the Federation comprises more than 450,000
students from 60 university and college students' unions
across the country.
• Because universities and colleges are funded primarily
by the federal government and administered exclusively
by the provincial government, government policies and
priorities determine the quality and accessibility of postsecondary education in Canada.
• Tuition fee levels, student financial assistance programs
and funding for research are all set directly or indirectly
by both levels of government.
We are the National Graduate
Caucus of the CFS
• The NGC consists of 32 students’ unions
representing over 60,000 graduate students in
Canada.
• The National Graduate Caucus has the following
objectives: advocating for the interests of
graduate students nationally and internationally;
providing a forum for discussion of issues of
concern to graduate students; and representing
the concerns of graduate students within the
Canadian Federation of Students. Working
together for these objectives has led to a record
of success.
NGC campaigns and graduate
issues
1. “Sticker Shock!”: A Comparative
Analysis of the Full Cost of Graduate
Education in Canada
2. “Whistleblower” Campaign
3. Crisis In Scholarly Publishing
4. National Library of Canada - Theses
Canada
5. Advisory Committee on International
Students and Immigration
6. Study Permits and On Campus Work
GSU services
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International Student Identity Card (ISIC)
Student Saver Discount Card
Supplementary Health Insurance
Homes4students.ca
GSU Pub/Café
For more info go to www.gsu.utoronto.ca
GSU services ctd.
• Workshops
• Common Handbook
• Gym (intramurals ect.)
For more info go to www.gsu.utoronto.ca
International Student Identity Card
(ISIC)
• The ISIC provides access to discounts on
domestic air travel purchased through
Travel CUTS, a 35% discount on VIA Rail
travel, and discounts on major bus lines
across Canada. In addition, the ISIC
provides access to discounted cellular
phones and phone plans through
studentphonestore.com, and to discounts
available at studentsaver.ca.
• Please call and make an apt. first.
Studentsaver Discount Card
• The Studentsaver Card is Canada's only
student owned and operated national
student discount program. With thousands
of discounts across Canada, Studentsaver
helps students save money on everyday
purchases like books, clothing, food, and
entertainment.
• Visit the studentsaver website here:
www.studentsaver.ca
Supplementary Health
Insurance from Greenshield
• Full-time grads are covered. Benefits
include 80% refund on prescription
• drugs, eye exam and eyewear, orthotics,
travel insurance and more. You can
• opt-out if you have equivalent insurance,
or purchase family coverage or a
• 1-year extension upon graduation, until
Friday Oct. 7/05.
The National Student Health
Network
• Through negotiations with Canada's only
non-profit insurance provider, Greenshield,
the CFS offers the most comprehensive
set of benefits available through a campus
health plan:
Homes4students.ca
• Homes4students.ca is a national online
housing database owned and operated by
the CFS. With vacancy rates in many
Canadian cities and towns being at an alltime low, it is difficult for many students to
find affordable accommodation. By
bringing listings for many regions together
in one place, homes4students.ca enables
students to search for housing anywhere
in the country quickly and efficiently.
GSU services
AND
Common handbook project
• The CFS handbook
project was initiated
primarily to reduce the
cost of producing highquality handbooks.
Students' unions of all
sizes soon benefited
from the project.
• IT’S FREE, you can pick
it up at you department
GSU GYM
Our gym at 16 Bancroft is available for
booking 1 hour/week on a monthly basis.
Suitable for badminton, volleyball and
basketball.
Call us to book 416-978-2391
Workshops
•
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•
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Workshops
Academic Careers for Women
Financial Survival for Student Families
Income Tax
GSU services
• Each event is
"hosted' by a
student or staff
member and
includes some preor post-show chit
chat. We'll try to
keep the price
below $20 where
possible!
GSU services
• This program is specifically designed by
Student Services to offer workshops,
social events, and other resources to
enhance the graduate student’s
experience.
GSU committees
Academics & Funding
Chair: Nancy Dawe
Outreach
Chair: Daphne Sniekers
Social Justice
Chair: Gina Trubiani
For a full listing visit us at www.gsu.utoronto.ca
Campaigns
• Find out what campaigns are being
adopted
• Choose what you like and contribute
e.g. volunteer on a committee
NOV 2005 Plebiscite Referendum
• Questions will be posed on how students
feel about decreasing their fees or at least
extending the Tuition Fee Freeze until the
next election.
• Watch out for voting dates in Nov 2005.
Tuition Fee Freeze campaign
Where does your money go?
• $450-millionaire U of
T Chancellor (19972003) Hal Jackman
counting his money
during a Governing
Council meeting
where tuition fee
increases were
approved
Tuition Fee Freeze
• Via tireless efforts of students,
administrators, staff and faculty a tuition
fee freeze was won in 2003
The Rae Review
• THE RAE COMMISSION: ONTARIO'S REVIEW OF THE DESIGN
AND FUNDING OF POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
• In the May 2004 Ontario Budget, former Premier Bob Rae was
appointed to lead a comprehensive review of the Design and
Funding of Post-Secondary Education in Ontario.
• Mr. Rae, released a discussion paper in the fall of 2004.
• Following that, consultations with students, university administrators,
faculty, staff and members of the private sector were conducted.
• Premier Dalton McGuinty, and the Minister of Training, Colleges and
Universities, Mary Anne Chambers will be considering this report
before implementing changes to address problems facing our postsecondary system.
• Students from across the province had a very
strong presence at all the meetings and town
halls.
BUT……
• Members of the panel have been quoted stating
they had every intention of recommending an
end to the freeze.
• In addition, under the heading "go now, pay
later", the discussion around a regressive
system of "Income contingent loan repayment
schemes" was reintroduced. THIS PROGRAM
OF STUDENT LOANS AND REPAYMENT HAS
BEEN FOLLOWED BY SKYROCKETING
TUTION FEES WHEREVER IT HAS BEEN
IMPLEMENTED
Day of Action, Feb 3 2005
GSU, Local 19
Other Current Campaigns:
Corporations on Campus
Corporations on campus
• As tuition fees increase, as colleges and
universities make new and often secret
arrangements with the private sector, and
as courses and research go up "for sale,"
Canada's universities and colleges are
losing sight of the public interest.
The Corporate Campus
• By James Turk
• Articles on
commercialization of
post-secondary
education
• Authors include Ursula
Franklin, Nancy
Olivieri, Bill Graham,
Paul Axelrod, David
Noble, Bill Bruneau,
Dr. Nancy Olivieri
• The dispute began after researcher Dr
Nancy Olivieri decided to break a
confidentiality agreement with Apotex, a
Toronto based pharmaceutical company
that was sponsoring her research. She
published results critical of the drug
deferiprone, which she was testing in
young patients with thalassaemia, in the
New England Journal of Medicine
(1998;339:417-23).
What’s the point?
• Graduate School is like anything else in
life!
• You get as much out of it as you put in
“Do not be happy with what you know, but
always strive for the unknown”
Welcome to GRAD school! stop by and
visit us at the GSU anytime
Your Executive for 2005-06:
Anthony Kola- Nancy Dawe
Olusanya
Music
Curriculum, vpinternal.
Teaching and
Learning
gsu@utoronto
president.gsu .ca
@utoronto.ca
Gina
Trubiani
Zoology
vpexternal.
gsu@
utoronto.ca
David Bateman
Medical
Biophysics
treasurer.gsu@
utoronto.ca
Claire Hurtig Daphne
Deanna
Art History
Sniekers
Wasyliuk
secretary.gsu
@utoronto.ca Mechanical Architecture
Industrial
Engineering deanna.wasyliuk
sniekers@ @utoronto.ca
mie.utoronto.ca
Graduate Students' Union
University of Toronto
16 Bancroft Avenue,
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1C1
• 416-978-2391
• www.gsu.utoronto.ca